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Travel-log: Tribute to NOLA

Fat Tuesday put me in mind of my most excellent trip to New Orleans last year where I met up with a whole host of MonkBots. So I dug up some photos in tribute to this wonderful city…no particular order, some retooled, some never published here.

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14 thoughts on “Travel-log: Tribute to NOLA”

O.M.G. These are so great. I don’t have time to give them all my attention right now, but I promise I will later today. I’m finally feeling better, so I need to catch up on some work. I can’t believe you’ve been keeping all these great photos from us for a year!!!!!

Shrew, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I think street photography is your calling. Absolutely beautiful shots, and what impresses me to no end is the fact that for most, if not all, of these, you probably had only a second or two to frame and take your shot. Man, you could give me an hour or two, and I probably wouldn’t be able to create the same shot.

Can you share your process with us? When you walk around, do you look around and immediately “see” the shot exactly as you want to shoot it and promptly take it? Or do you sit/stand somewhere, and look around through your camera, taking shots as you discover them through your viewfinder/LCD screen? I’m asking because the latter is my method when taking macros. It’s hard to visualize the shot when what you see through a macro lens is so very different from what you see with the naked eye. I’m wondering if maybe one of the reasons I find street photography so challenging is because it calls for a completely different method than what I normally use.

Beautiful pictures…beautiful city…beautiful friends…beautiful time. I’m so glad you posted these. I remember when we met those cute boys working on that house in the Garden District. They were so excited to see that tourists were coming in to visit. Everyone was so gracious there! I loved the trip and the city so much. I feel homesick for NOLA and it’s not even my home. I hope to someday be back there…maybe with you…having dinner at Irene’s!!

Okay where to start? I wish you had numbered or named these so I can refer to them specifically, but here goes…

I like clarinet dude… not as well as I like the original color version where he’s playing, but the grain you’ve added gives this a lot of character.

Trombone man and banjo man are very nice compositionally… placement in the frame, capturing the emotion. I like that we don’t see the face of the banjo dude.

Crocodile… don’t love the vignetting around the edges of this one. I see that you were probably trying to put the focus on the one croc, but I think I’d rather see it cropped a bit to achieve that.

Door to nowhere… great texture and visual interest. I mean why is there a door there on the second floor?

Beard man has a lot of character. Can you bump up the contrast on this one and PS out some of the fence?

Building detail… you know I’m a pattern and texture girl. There is so much geometric interest in this shot. Lots of interesting patterns, lines and textures here.

Two windows… Did you edit this somehow or is this what you saw out of the camera? I think this is one of my favorites on this post. It’s one of those photos that you can’t stop looking at. What’s going on there? Why are these two very different windows inside these green frames? What am I really looking at. Also great color and texture.

Beautiful stained glass shot!

Diner and Preservation Hall Band are two of my favorite Shrew’s Shutters Classics. I think both made the Christmas card didn’t they?

Dog walker… beautiful contrast in this one. It’s hard to get such a great range of tones in a B&W photo on such a bright day.

Cookie… Another classic. I think I like the original color version better?

Dog on porch… this is a great shot. I really like the angle. It gives a whole different perspective from the original you posted.

The whole can-o-photoshop photo is great. The colors, ortonizing and composition make it look like a fantasy/fairy tale.

The cemetery shot is very compelling as well. I like the tight composition.

Okay skipping to the two portraits. I seriously think you have an amazing talent for capturing the emotion in people which is terribly difficult to do in a photo. These are AMAZING portraits. So simple, yet they capture the personality of these men.

Love the mardi-gras beads on the fence. The smooth roundness of the beads in contrast with the sharp hardness of the fence.

Nice job, as always Shrewbie. You don’t share enough of your photos with us. These are terrific.

First, BAMA!!!! Gal where have you been hiding yourself? Miss you sistah! Whatcha doing in August? Wanna come to Newport RI?

Karmardav – Those little skeletons are VooDoo type dolls for sale in the French Market

Brc – WOW…I am humbled…the door to nowhere and the windows pictures are part of a group of buildings in various states of repair from damage inflicted by Katrina…Bama is right about a city so grateful to see tourists coming back. As for sharing photos…I share as I take ‘em gal…Speaking of sharing….where are those Guest Shutters? We need more! LOVE the community!

IvoryHut – Process? I never have given it much thought…which is probably why sometimes I can shoot and shoot filling up a 4 G card in one day OR even forget I have my camera and only take like 5 shots another day. The biggest “technique”, if it can be called that, is I use almost exclusively my big honkin’ telephoto lens…yup the heavy 70-300. I think the heft helps. I hold the lens in my hand so that the weight isn’t pulling on the strap across my neck. The result is the camera is closer to my face. The other thing is, I use the lens to get closer and see things from a distance. It allows me to get close without breaking the subject’s world…so emotion is closer to the surface…it is almost less intrusive view on the world. But I don’t think I have answered your question yet…

I see first with my naked eye. Think ooh that I want to remember…or sometimes…I anticipate a coming movement; even though I really don’t know what is coming…I stick with it.

For example…Cookie – guy in apron. He was outside having a smoke break and some gal was chit chatting with him…I watch and when she went in he began to watch the tourists in the French Market, I being one of those tourists. I know he saw me focusing on him…and SNAP…the photo was taken.

The Two “cute guys” as Bama so rightly calls them…ASKED me to take their pictures and document the fact that they were part of the rebuild effort. So willing subjects there.

Most of the other shots where taken in a series of one, two or three in a matter of moments either on a carriage ride tour or walking around site seeing. I never wanted to hold the group up…so pop and move on. I think that kind of “guerrilla” photojournalism does force the shooter to compose anticipate and look for found moments. BUT it can also hinder you…I have not gotten used to asking permission to take a shot yet. Oh sure I can sneak one in at 300 feet…but when confronted with a terrific character I miss it everytime. Bama, remember that VooDoo Priest in the Museum with the snake coiled around his neck? Why O why didn’t I take his picture?

Hey y’all! I lurk around here off and one…also at Music Maven from time to time. I always admire the beautiful photography, but I feel too overwhelmed with info to comment sometimes!!

Shrew- I absolutely remember the Voodoo priest. That was one of my favorite times…just sitting there and talking about his snakes…and getting some love from his yellow python. That was awesome!

Hmmm…RI in August?? Sounds intriguing….

I have a beautiful pic of that ragtime band that was playing on the street. I’ll see if I have it…and I’ll send it to you. I was so mesmerized by them. I didn’t want to move. I wonder if they still play there…on that corner.

How funky is it that, just as Bama’s resurfacing made me start reminiscing about old friends, I get interrupted by the television in the other room that is playing something that sounds very familiar. I look up to see Taylor Hicks on Regis & Kelly, singing with sparse accompaniment and sounding really, really good.